"War, Fascism, concentration camps, rubber truncheons, atomic bombs, etc., are what we daily think about, and therefore to a great extent what we write about, even when we do not name them openly. We cannot help this. When you are on a sinking ship, your thoughts will be about sinking ships." --George Orwell (1903-1950)[Thanks to Alex Constantine @ http://aconstantineblacklist.blogspot.com/]

Sunday, October 8

Fascism Alert 109: Tell Cheney Your Thoughts on Iraq and Go to Jail

Below is an excerpt from a 3 October Rocky Mountain News (Colorado) reportby staff writer Charlie Brennan revealing two critical points of the US's continuing slide into fascism:

1. The First Amendment is now on life support.2. The fear of average Americans that rightly lurks in the hearts and minds of senior officials (and their bodyguards) in the lowest-rated administration in US history can not permit anyone to tell them the sordid truth of their role in wrecking America. --Moose

==Arrest over Cheney barb triggers lawsuit

A Denver-area man filed a lawsuit today against a member of the Secret Service for causing him to be arrested after he approached Vice President Dick Cheney in Beaver Creek this summer and criticized him for his policies concerning Iraq.

Attorney David Lane said that on June 16, Steve Howards was walking his 7-year-old son to a piano practice, when he saw Cheney surrounded by a group of people in an outdoor mall area, shaking hands and posing for pictures with several people.

According to the lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Denver, Howards and his son walked to about two-to-three feet from where Cheney was standing, and said to the vice president, "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible," or words to that effect, then walked on.

Ten minutes later, according to Howards' lawsuit, he and his son were walking back through the same area, when they were approached by Secret Service agent Virgil D. "Gus" Reichle Jr., who asked Howards if he had "assaulted" the vice president. Howards denied doing so, but was nonetheless placed in handcuffs and taken to the Eagle County Jail....

As a follow-up to Brennan's story, the next day the paper's blog asked readers to respond to the rhetorical question "What can you say to a Vice President?".

In Cheney's case, that's easy: "Turn off the defibulator and exit slowly with your hands in the air."